“What is male, what is female, how should they relate?”
To answer these great basic questions, so perplexing and controversial today, a wise and sympathetic Frenchman traces the changing historic roles of women, especially Western women. He reaches back to remote sources to explain—and suggest solutions to—the current predicament of the sexes.
When some three of four thousand years ago men revolted against the myth of the Great Earth Goddess and set up dominant male gods, it was a psychological event of the first magnitude. This shift to the masculine principle, claims de Riencourt, marked the beginning of history proper and led to the male-oriented societies of Greece and Rome. In Rome it also led to the first full-scale rebellion of women, so similar to what’s happening today.
From Rome’s fall, de Riencourt follows the fortunes of women from tribal and feudal to Renaissance and industrial socities and makes some startling predictions about the direction of Western human ecology.
Sex and Power in History is a bold and brilliant synthesis of many disciplines, including sociology, biology, psychology, and religion. It discusses: The powerful women of history and the cultures that nourished them ... why men and women don’t think alike ... how women were vital to the spread of Christianity ... the most creative social experiment of our century that truly liberates women... the relationship between stable family life and the power of women ... why Oriental cultures accommodate men and women better than the West... the Reformation and the degradation of women ... how women fare under modem socialism ... the link between widespread male homosexuality and the social repression of women ... the dangerous implications of the current blurring of sexual differences ... and much, much more, as he analyzes the nature of men and women and the myths and misconceptions that separate or unite them.
Author(s): Amaury de Riencourt
Publisher: David McKay Company
Year: 1974
Language: English
Pages: x+469
City: New York
Introduction, vii
Part I. Before History: The Eternal Feminine
Chapter 1. Anthropoids and Humans, 3
Chapter 2. Incest and Communication, 9
Chapter 3. The Rise and Fall of the Great Mother, 17
Chapter 4. The Past That Survives, 42
Chapter 5. The Biological Roots, 49
Chapter 6. Sex and Psyche, 60
Part II. The Axial Period: Woman and Religion
Chapter 1. The Patriarchal Revolution, 69
Chapter 2. Iran and Israel: The Spiritual Breakthrough, 79
Chapter 3. Greece: The Intellectual Breakthrough, 93
Chapter 4. Roman Matrons and World Empire, 120
Chapter 5. The Religious Awakening, 128
Chapter 6. Christianity, 137
Chapter 7. India and China, 161
Chapter 8. Islam, 186
Chapter 9. Prophetism and Mysticism, 198
Part III. The Rise of the West: Woman and Culture
Chapter 1. The Barbarian Woman, 207
Chapter 2. The Medieval Lady, 218
Chapter 3. The Virago, 232
Chapter 4. The Witch, 243
Chapter 5. The Reformed Woman, 256
Chapter 6. The Cultured Woman, 264
Part IV. The Modern Age: Woman and Civilization
Chapter 1. Woman in Search of an Identity, 283
Chapter 2. Industrial Revolution: The Birth of Feminism, 299
Chapter 3. The Victorian Age, 311
Chapter 4. Culture and Civilization, 328
Part V. Beyond History: Woman and Revolution
Chapter 1. The Dream of Anarchy, 343
Chapter 2. Revolution in Action, 360
Chapter 3. The Communist Reality, 371
Chapter 4. Cultural Revolution in the West 397
Chapter 5. Pandora’s Daughters, 403
Chapter 6. The End of the Iron Age, 419
Notes and References, 425
Bibliography, 449
Index, 457
